Page 82 of Demon Unleashed

Manus sighed and shook his head. “I’m not even gonna ask how that could have happened in the first place. Let’s just deal with that issue later.” He nodded at Logan. “I’m with Logan. We don’t know whether this is temporary and whether Zoltan will just change back in a few hours. We have to be certain.”

Zoltan ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. “There’s no way to be certain. Hell, when it first happened, I thought I was dying. Maybe I was. Maybe a part of my demon self died.” He glanced at Enya. “It’s true: nobody here knows what’ll happen. Hell, I only have one Stealth Guardian power so far. I have no idea if I’ll ever be able to walk through a wall, or if I’ll develop an aura. How is anybody here supposed to know? This is new for all of us. We’re all just guessing.”

The men didn’t contradict him.

“All I know is that I feel different. And I know I won’t hurt any of you.”

“That’s what you say now,” Pearce said. “But we can’t just take your word for it.”

“Let’s talk to Wes and Charles. Maybe they can help,” Enya suggested anxiously. When nobody said a word, she added, “It can’t hurt to just ask them.”

Pearce looked at his colleagues, then nodded. “Fine. I’m gonna get them on the speaker.” He reached for a tablet on the sideboard, pulled up an app, and selected a number. It rang loud enough for everybody in the room to hear.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Yeah, Wes, it’s Pearce. We’ve got some questions for you and Charles. Let me just patch him in.”

“Oh, Charles is right here with me. We’re in the lab.”

“Hey, Pearce.”

“Hey, Charles. Okay, then. I’m here with the whole gang.”

A collective “hey” went through the room. Then Pearce nodded to Enya.

“So, Wes, Charles, it’s about the gypsy story you found. I figured out what it means,” Enya said, leaning over the tablet.

“Were we right?” Wes asked.

“Basically, yeah. Though it wasn’t the life or the heartbeat—it was the life force, the virta.”

“Huh?” Wes said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Charles asked. “If the demon feels the virta of his child, he gets transformed? But that can’t happen, Enya. I mean, the child of a demon wouldn’t have virta.”

“It would,” Enya said, then cleared her throat. “It does. But that’s beside the point. There’s something else.”

“Okay, shoot,” Wes said.

“Is it possible that the transformation is only partial or that it takes a while to be fully complete?” Enya asked.

“Funny you should ask,” Charles said. “Wes and I dug a little deeper after you left, and there was more to the story.”

“Like what?” Enya asked, and locked eyes with Zoltan.

“Apparently a demon’s soul is a split soul.”

Several of the guys in the room said, “What?”

“Well, let me explain that,” Charles continued. “When a person turns demon, his soul is split into multiple parts and scattered. So, when a demon is redeemed, it makes sense that not all parts of his soul come back at the same time. In that story, there’s a reference about a night and a day, or something like that. Wes?”

“Yeah,” Wes said, “it was something like a full cycle of the sun. Which makes me believe it can take up to twenty-four hours before the entire soul is restored.”

Zoltan felt the tightness of his chest ease and took a breath. So there was a chance that soon he’d transform fully. There was hope.

“Thanks, Wes. Thanks, Charles,” Enya said.

“Anytime,” both replied.